7 years ago
Spike Lee 10
Off the Trail: Gatherings from True/False
Rob Trench reports from this year's True/False documentary film festival in Missouri.
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“Chi-Raq” Is A Glorious Provocation
Spike Lee doesn’t always make it easy for us fans. His restless, prolific output can often swerve from brilliant to asinine, sometimes within the space of a single movie, sometimes within the space of a single scene. But stick with the guy long enough and ever...
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“Prince” Is A Buoyant and Charming Debut
In Holland, first you get the energy drink, then you get the purple Lamborghini, then you get the women—or so it goes in Sam de Jong’s buoyant and charming debut Prince, a familiar coming-of-age scenario energized via the fresh lens of the 28-year-old Dutch mu...
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“Do The Right Thing” and the Moderate Disavowal of Rioting
Even if one might have wished for a more diverse talking head roster from Baltimore’s cultural scene in the wake of Freddie Gray’s violent death in police custody on April 12, it was no surprise when David Simon’s media dance card found itself full, given his ...
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Watch This: Spike Lee and Ray Allen Talk “He Got Game” for ESPN
In the first of Spike Lee's Lil Joints for ESPN's 30 for 30 division, Spike Lee reminisces on his landmark film He Got Game with its star (and active NBA player) Ray Allen as he plays a game wearing the jersey with Jesus Shuttlesworth, his character's name, on...
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Black and/or White: Race Relations on Film
Why can’t we all just get along? It should be easier than easy to vibe with people from other backgrounds than our own; there should be no obstacles or roadblocks segregating us or just plain old keeping us divided. But it’s 2015, and racial harmony is still a...
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Scene by Scene: A Breakdown of Essential Spike Lee scenes
One of the best summations of Spike Lee I’ve ever read came in Wesley Morris’s review of his latest film Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (now available on Vimeo as well as iTunes on Feb. 13th) by writing, “No one makes a mess like Spike Lee.” Spike Lee is a filmmaker ...
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The Directors Who Influenced “Dear White People”
Like so many others before me, I fell into the trap: After sitting down with Dear White People director Justin Simien, the first thing I brought up was Spike Lee. And while my comment didn’t directly concern the fact that both Simien and Lee are black American...
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Fight, Not Flight: The Sound and Fury of “Fight the Power” in “Do the Right Thing”
Songs in the Key of Cinema is a bi-weekly look at the use of songs in film and how that music fits within the context of the film as a whole and a place where we’ll cover the moments in cinema that were music to our eyes and ears.
Twenty-five years ago, Be...
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How Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” Changed My Perception of Black America For The better
"On Second Thought" is a weekly column filled with personal written and visual reflections on all things cinematic by critic and video essayist Michael Mirasol.
1989 was a turning point in my life. My family moved into a new home, a two-story house in a...
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